top of page
Freedom concept_ Silhouette of bird flying and broken chains at autumn mountain sunset bac

                                                                 Prison Hope Assessment

​

The Prison Environment Hope Scale is designed to assess the extent to which a prison  environment fosters the four cardinal elements of hope: attachment, survival, mastery, and spirituality.

 

The inspiration for the development of the WP-Hope was primarily Scioli’s model of hope, and secondarily, Sykes’ (1958) seminal work on the frustrations of imprisonment as well as Frankl’s meditations during his time in Auschwitz. 

 

Sykes (1958) identified the following “prisoner deprivations”: intimacy (attachment), security and liberty (survival), and autonomy (mastery).  Frankl’s WWII imprisonment led him to declare that meaning in life (spirituality) was the central motivational force. 

 

The contents of this scale were derived using formal test development procedures to assure reliability and validity. 

 

The final set of items were selected by assessing former prisoner’s ratings of the importance associated with specific elements of their prison experience.  

 

Norms are based on the responses of 200 former prisoners, 100 males and 100 females (Study 1).   

​

  • Prison Hopefulness Score (Overall)

  • Prison Trust Score

  • Prison Support Score

  • Prison Empowerment Score

  • Prison Spirit Score       

 

Scale Length: 16 Items

Time Required: 3 Minutes

Fee: Negotiated

 

Examples of Applications

​

  • Program development

  • Program evaluation (e.g., Accreditation reviews)

  • Prison-based research (grant-funding)

  • Public relations

bottom of page